Agenda item

(The Council has received a petition from, Mr Doug Wright, the petitioner organiser, requesting the Council to not approve the Sustainability and Transformation Plans for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw.)

The Council considered a Petition entitled ‘Keep our NHS Public – Doncaster and Bassetlaw’, received from Mr Doug Wright, the Petitioner Organiser, requesting the Council to not approve the Sustainability and Transformation Plans for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, which had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme.

Prior to debating the Petition, the Chair of Council, Councillor George Derx, outlined the procedure which would be followed.  The Petition Organiser would be given 5 minutes to present the Petition and as the Petition was below the 10,000 signature threshold, there would be no discussion or debate involving Elected Members.  Upon conclusion of the presentation, the Petition would be referred to the appropriate Executive Member.

Mr. Doug Wright, in presenting the Petition, addressed the Council as follows:-

“This petition is in support of keeping the NHS Public for Doncaster and Bassetlaw.  It is in reference to the Sustainability and Transformation Plan which is now known as the Accountable Care Organisation and which will result in reductions of £139.5m by 2020 in relation to Doncaster and Bassetlaw’s Health and Social Care Budget.  We believe this reduction in funding will lead to the reduction of services, Hospital closures and increases in early death rates.  The new accountable care system is the main instrument for the privatisation of the NHS.  The Accountable Care Systems need to be opposed as they are being introduced without adequate consultation and no meaningful public involvement or Parliamentary scrutiny.  It is being imposed where NHS care and care services are seriously underfunded.  It is being implemented beyond any legal framework and creating problems with governance and legal accountability.

The problems will affect Doncaster’s residents.  There is one example in Doncaster’s CCG. Last year saw the introduction of new treatment guidelines in Doncaster with some operations and procedures that provide unlimited or temporary benefit to patients no longer routinely available such as cataract surgery, hip replacements and gall bladder surgery.  These decisions we were told, are made by the clinicians but they are not.  They are made by Government and clinicians have to make tough choices as a result of their limited funds.

Last Thursday at the Doncaster CCG meeting, we were told that because of the £139.5m cuts to budgets that had to be found by 2021, the CCG itself has to find £30m by 2021. That’s a lot of money. This affects DRI who will have to find £4.5m and RDASH who will have to find a reduction of £500k in their budgets. This gets serious.  How can they do that.  How can they make these cuts.

There will also be a further reduction of £1.5m to be found in Public Health budgets and from 2019; there will be no funding from Central Government.

I will say that the £571m Health and Social Care gap that has to be found by South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw will lead to the demise of the NHS.  What will be lost in the NHS will be difficult to reinstate. There will be talk of under resourced chaos in the NHS in 2021 in my Town.

All our elected representatives from all Political Parties will have watched the finest institution ever created to be broken up, contract by contract.  I ask you consider this carefully and refer this to Council or public meeting for further consideration.”

The Chair of Council formally accepted the Petition on behalf of the Council and confirmed that the Petition would be referred to the appropriate Executive Member, Councillor Nigel Ball, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Leisure and Culture, for consideration.  As Councillor Ball was not in attendance at the meeting, the Chair of Council afforded Cabinet Member Councillor Rachael Blake, the opportunity to comment on the issues raised within the Petition as follow:-

“I’d like to thank Mr Wright for presenting this petition to Council.

The NHS is our most treasured public service and I know this particular issue is one that Mr Wright is very passionate about, as am I.  We all value the essential work undertaken by the NHS and the care provided by its staff.  It is therefore crucial that the NHS is properly funded and able to continue providing vital public services to our residents.

The Cabinet has previously been invited to support the Sustainability and Transformation Plan covering Doncaster, but chose not to do so and instead noted its development.

We do have concerns about the implementation of Sustainability and Transformation Plans which at the present time, do not make clear the implications for current care services.

I also note this week, news that the Secretary of State is likely to pause the creation of Accountable Care Organisations until a national consultation can be held on the issue.  We are therefore seeking to be kept informed of developments and will of course also formally respond to Mr Wright, in relation to this Petition.”